Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Campaign and Suffering

Today's column for the Daily Banter lends a sympathetic ear to the plight of the nation's political press corps, a group of people who, dog-gonnit, just aren't having any fun these days.

Here's the opening shot:

"Several years ago, Rolling Stone politics-and-finances writer and national treasure Matt Taibbi, who at the time was a columnist for the New York Press, put together a list of the men and women he dubbed the biggest hacks in the world of political journalism. He then bracketed them, tallied up their various sins, and pitted them against each other until only one winner — one talentless creature above all others — remained. He called the competition 'Wimbelhack,' and it’s a tradition that’s been carried on, in a slightly more direct “countdown” fashion, by Salon‘s Alex Pareene. While it’s true that a quality hack’s worthlessness is self-evident and his or her work will be all the proof anybody needs that there’s no reason to give an ounce of credibility to the person’s thoughts or supposed insights, it’s always nice to see an outsider taking on the yeoman’s task of exposing in detail the intellectual bankruptcy of the worst offenders in the national press corps. This morning, Politico.com, without even meaning to, has kind of done just that..."

I'm a former network news producer and manager, the media editor at The Daily Banter, and a writer who's been featured in The Huffington Post,The New York Observer and The Village Voice. I'm also the author of a book called Dead Star Twilight and the founder of DXM Media, a firm specializing in television production as well as social media strategies and consulting. On top of all that crap, I'm the co-host of "The Bob & Chez Show" podcast and radio show with Bob Cesca. To find out more about me and/or throw money at me, go here. You can contact me at deusexmalcontent@gmail.com or chez@dxmmedia.com. Follow me on Twitter at @chezpazienza.

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"Pazienza could be accused of many things... but he could never be faulted for dumbing us down. His glued-shut prose and bawdy metaphors provide a deeply appreciated, and hilarious, literary diversion."

-- Gelf Magazine, "Insolence Is Bliss," June, 2008

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-- Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon.com

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